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[color=gray]Nikolai began to swim around and establish a consistent rhythm with his body movements. This wasn´t like overseeing construction at all. His old job involved hard numbers and no room for mistakes, but diving? There was a certain degree of looseness that you had to adopt, something that quickly began to incite curiosity within him in its novelty. You couldn´t move around by just kicking like a brute, but rather, you had to adapt to nature. It was the total opposite of what he had spent the last several years getting paid to do.

The sense of wonder drained from his body as soon as he saw his diving partner´s PDA. [i][color=#9546a1]Right, I forgot.[/color][/i] His subtle expression of sheepishness was obscured by both his gear and their distance. For a brief moment in time he was starting to get used to this instead of prioritizing escape, which caused a bit of internal scolding. The diver spoke to his partner, eyes zoned in completely on the rapid bursts of information his PDA was spitting out in the flora tabs. 

[color=#9546a1]“The plant life here seems diverse enough to probably host a couple of edible materials, so…”[/color] Nikolai´s observation was cut off by Natsumi´s encounter with a strange sea creature. It was significantly larger than the schools of skittish fish and had a very bloated, almost diseased appearance. Even more surprising was the distance that now lay between both divers. Nikolai realized just how easy it was for them to lose sight of each other should they decide to hand too much control over to the currents. These were the “safe shallows” so splitting up would presumably be alright, but what about when they’d set foot into another area? Nikolai wanted to bite his lip, feeling both determination and goosebumps hit his body in waves. [i][color=#9546a1]We´ll get better equipment.[/color][/i]

Nikolai swam towards Natsumi and the creature in calm yet forced movements, like a rusted machine. He was aware of this but didn´t care, as he´d get used to swimming around with enough time and experience. [i][color=#9546a1]There I go again, getting used to this.[/color][/i] Natsumi spoke through a radio, and luckily they were close enough for her voice to go through so cleanly. [color=#A0B3A8]"It might take us some time to gather the needed materials to repair the lifepod. I think we should explore the area and gather what we can, for now. The locker had some nutrient blocks and filtered water, but I doubt it will last us long. What do you think?"[/color] Nikolai awkwardly swiveled his body to face her as she spoke. None of the standard rules surrounding conversation really applied when underwater and facing the constant threat of danger, but he did it anyways.

[color=#9546a1]“Having a reliable water supply should be the first priority if we want to live, so that, probably.”[/color] replied Nikolai. He was lost in his thoughts and his last words came out listlessly. It was a bad habit of his. The bookworm was in his own world now, the world of numbers and charts and graphs. Different crafting recipes entered his mind and were looked at from angle to angle before being discarded and replaced by others. Anything that caught his eye required tools and materials that they didn´t have.[/color] 

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[color=gray]Hugo paused as Amari asked to help him with gearing up. He reflexively began to decline the offer while one of his arms reached around his back. With his bulkier build he had a bit of trouble and blurted out a sheepish [color=#f27778]“That would help!”[/color] before turning around.

The man thought about the current state of affairs for a while. He was stranded with one other person, so was there really a need to continue using his brother´s name? His brother… He thought about what the real Rafael was thinking back at home. His injured brother who had allowed Hugo to swap places with him, now assuming that he had died along with the rest of the crew. He let out a large sigh and tried not to let it affect him too much. 

Amari looked trustworthy enough and no one was really around, but he didn´t feel comfortable enough yet. There were more important things to worry about at the moment, such as not even having a space to live in. Sure, the escape pod technically counted, but the mechanic spirit within him was itching to repair every last crackling piece of machinery and fix it from the ground up. Even the littlest of the bumps and smudges that unevenly decorated the pod´s cramped walls found a way to annoy him and were registered in his repair hit list. 

Hugo rolled his shoulders and stared at a particularly damaged piece of hardware. [color=#f27778]“You know… back when I worked as a regular employee in this place, even the tiniest mistake would be bad. Most of the work is left to machines, but they don´t make mistakes, so having them as coworkers was hard.”[/color] A large grin began to spread across his rough face. [color=#f27778]“What I am trying to say is, look at this place! Ahaha! Could you imagine calling something like this home?”[/color] he asked, laughing heartily. [color=#f27778]“First thing I have to do after exploring around is clean this place.”[/color] The average person would´ve used a word like “dump” to describe the escape pod, but Hugo was the overly respectful type and settled on the ever so neutral “place” to describe what now separated them from a million miles and more of dark blue.[/color]